Lawrence, BCS work overtime to enter final

Sanawar, Aug 30 (UNI) Hosts and runners-up Lawrence School and Bishop Cotton School of Shimla had to work overtime to down their respective semi-final opponents in the 10th Bhupinder Singh Memorial Football Tournament being played here today.

Both sem-finals ended in one-one draw in the stipulated period and the issue was resolved in extra time. In the first semi-final, encouraged by their colleagues and school staff, Lawrence School edged out defending champions Sherwood College of Nanital by 2-1 in extra time. Sherwood College dominated the first half while Lawrence School enjoyed the territorial supremacy in the second half and extra time.

Sherwood College took no time to open their account. The match was hardly two minutes old when Sherwood drew the first blood through Ashyae Joshi who converted a centre from right winger Khanal. The defending champions managed to keep their slander lead intact till the 62nd minute when their goal fell. Parul Chabbra trapped a grounder, following a corner kick, before scoring the equaliser. As the match ended in a one-all deadlock, extra time of 15 minutes of two halves was given to arrive at a decision. Ashutosh Chandel snatched the match-winner for Lawrence School in the 94th minute.

The second semi-final between Pinegrove School of Subathu and Bishop Cotton School of Shimla was also extended to extra time. The teams shared two goals in the regulation session. Within six minutes the teams were tied one-all. It was Bishop Cotton School who took the lead through Pung Pung who scored in the fourth minute.

Pinegrove School launched a counter-attack and restored parity in the 6th minute through Rudra. Tied one-all, extra time of 30 minutes, two halves of 15 minuters each were given to resolve the issue. Enoch clinched the title for Bishop Cotton School.

UNI